Beryl in Ubuntu

I'm happy to see that all the legal issues were put behind, and that beryl is already available in the Ubuntu repositories.

Beryl is a fork of compiz, but, in my opinion, it is developing way much faster! In the past few days, there has been some huge discussion, to define if beryl should merge with compiz, creatting a new project with a third name. Two days ago, Quinn Storm, the leader of the beryl project, has agreed with the merge. This probably won't be ready in time for feisty, but I'm sure that, if the merge goes smooth and no problem appears between the developers, feisty+1 will surely have some awesome desktop effects!

Ubuntu splash screen follow up

Following this post, the splash screen has already been updated, it seems that the community comments were heard!

New default splash:



Edit:
Wrong image was uploaded, the real new default screen is this one:

Beryl 0.2

Beryl 0.2 is finally out!

I've made my upgrades and finally the ATI issues are solved. My window decoration is running fast and stable! If you're using Ubuntu, upgrade from these official repositories:

• deb http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org edgy main
• deb http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org feisty main
• deb http://debian.beryl-project.org etch main

While nvidia user are able to run it from Aixgl, all of ATI users, using ATI official driver must use XGL, in order to do this, install xserver-xgl from your package manager and before you login, select the XGL session. Run beryl-manager to start it.

Enjoy

Ubuntu Desktop

I've been using Ubuntu for about an year now. This is, by far, the Linux distribution that has amazed me the most.

When I first tried out Ubuntu, it was version 5.10, Dapper Drake. It amazed me the simpleness of the system, yet, with all those powerful capabilities, characteristic of Debian based systems. For the first time, the only problem I had while installing a Linux distribution was the graphic card driver, which I had to manually configure. It automatically detected my sound card, monitor resolution, keyboard, auto-mounted dvds/cds, and lots of other goodies, that made me stick with it ever since. But, nothing is perfect.. The worst problem it had a couple of years ago is still here now. Looks!

Ubuntu is trying to take a great place in the desktop world. It is now taking on Microsoft's Windows Vista or Apple's Mac OS on. Despites being a great operative system, it lacks one small detail, it is ugly as hell! I've been using Feisty for some time now, and after a recent update, I really though that this situation was getting better. My splash looked like this:



Despite the usual brown look, the image was smooth, and better than the previous one. Just a couple of days later, after another update, I was seeing the worst splash screen I've ever seen.



It is not at all 'nice'. Planet Ubuntu's contributor Alan Pope has even called this splash phallic! Fedora is way ahead Ubuntu with their default looks. If we what any system to be attractive, the first thing he has to do, is make impact. And if Ubuntu whats to be able to fight the battle for Desktops, it has to be way more than just easy to use and secure/stable.

So, because maybe we're still in time, I challenge all of those, who have the knowledge, and all the other who think that they can help, let's embrace new ideas, Ubuntu needs a new and improved look! We are tired of the boring brown! Can this be done before Feisty final release?

XP Themes

Everyone is talking about making Linux look like Windows. The start menu, The icons, the everything! So, I really thought it to be a good idea, when I read in tux vermelho about making Windows look like Linux. Gnome, to be more precise!

In order to do this, you should download belchfire to be able to install non signed themes. Now, all you have to do is go to deviantart and download Clearlooks, Human and Plastik. Then,just extract the folders to C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes\.

Done, just right click your desktop, select preferences and select your new appearance.

To also alter the icons, you should download them from here.

You can read more and preview the result in the Tango for Windows webpage.
Some applications, firefox and thunderbird have this kind of themes available, just go to the theme option and search for tango, it should appear right away.

For the last step, the desktop background, search in one of these:

• Gnome-look.org;


• KDE-look.org;


• Interfacelift.

If everything went well, you desktop should now look like this: